The third-ever Chuck Lager America’s Tavern to open in the U.S. is now open and serving up deliciousness in the former Primebar location in the Shops at Wiregrass.
Although there has definitely been a lot of remodeling done inside, the more important thing is that the food at Chuck Lager’s (2001 Piazza Ave.), which features a menu created by celebrity TV chef Fabio Viviani, is significantly better than anything we ever had at Primebar, no matter how many times that menu was changed.
fig & prosciutto flatbread
meatballs in deliciously creamy polenta
French onion burger
bourbon & rye flights.
chicken parmesan
sautéed broccolini
grilled flat iron steak & fries
Our favorite dishes after just a couple of visits include the Fabio’s meatballs, which sit in deliciously creamy polenta, the unique fig & prosciutto flatbread, the crispy but tender chicken parmesan, the grilled flat iron steak frites and the perfectly sautéed broccolini.
Chuck Lager opens at 3 p.m. every day and has cool drink specials like cotton candy cosmos & bourbon & rye “flights.”
Snowcat Ridge Alpine Snow Park in Dade City, Florida’s first snow park and only a 20-30 minute drive for many in the Wesley Chapel and New Tampa area, is officially open.
Located at 27839 St. Joe Rd., Snowcat Ridge opened Friday afternoon. The park is seasonal and will only be open through March.
Tickets are on sale at SnowCatRidge.com (you also can sign up there to get on an email notification list), and the prices range from $24.95 to $39.95, depending upon which days you choose to go. All tickets are $5 more if you buy them at the box office.
A general admission ticket includes a two-hour snow tubing session on Snowy Slopes, a 60-foot-high hill that is 400 feet long. A Magic Carpet ride (conveyor belt) will take you to the top of the hill.
It also includes all-day access to the 10,000-sq.-ft. Arctic Igloo, which will have plenty of man-made snow for making snowmen and forts, as well as a bunny slope designed for children ages 3 and under; and Alpine Village, which will feature vendors, seating and food and drink.
Scrolling through Kelsey Darragh’s popular YouTube channel, one thing is for certain — she has no filter.
Some of the titles and topics of her videos may make you blush (don’t ask), while others you will irresistibly click (we said don’t ask!), but Kelsey is both sassy and serious, and most often both at the same time.
However, you don’t have to dig deep into her YouTube channel to find Darragh — a 2008 Freedom High graduate now living in a Los Angeles apartment with a view of the famous Hollywood sign — tackling more serious issues dealing with gay, lesbian and trans issues, being in an abusive relationship, battling chronic pain, getting sober and even living with mental illness.
Darragh, who proudly says she is a three-time college dropout — Auburn University, the New York Film Academy and Los Angeles City College — used her edgy sense of humor to burst onto the YouTube scene in 2010, and started working for Buzzfeed in 2015. One of her favorite videos was about being chained to her mother Kristy Darragh, well-known local realtor, for 24 hours. And, while mom may blush at some of the titles on her daughter’s YouTube page, Kristy has appeared in a few of Kelsey’s videos herself.
Kristy knew that Kelsey had struggled her entire life with anxiety, panic and depression. But, while she was at Buzzfeed, Kelsey bravely revealed it to the whole world, in video form of course.
The reaction transformed her life, and her mission.
“My parents will tell you that I’m the most dramatic child that ever existed,” Kelsey says. “It’s no surprise that I’m using my voice for (both) entertainment and mental health activism. It was just kind of written in the stars for me.”
Kelsey Darragh’s first book is now available for presale and will be out for the holidays. Coming forward with her own mental health struggles has led to a career of helping others. We recently caught up with her to chat about making her life, well, an open book.
NN: You’re an author! How surprised will the people you went to school with in New Tampa be when they see your first book?
KD: Never in a million years would anyone think I would write a book, especially a workbook about mental health. But I love books. I was obsessed with the language arts programs at Tampa Palms Elementary. I was always in that library. I can see it right now in my head, I knew every corner of that library. Definitely a book lover, but never in a milion years did I think I had anything important to say or any stories to write about that anyone would give a sh-t about until this book. I still can’t believe it.
NN: What spurred your interest in mental health?
KD: At Buzzfeed, we were going to post videos every day that pertain to mental health education (during mental health month) and make them entertaining so people didn’t roll their eyes at the science-y nature of what we were posting. In the brainstorm, I had the idea to tell my mental health journey through a video using stop motion effects and all of the props used in the video were replicas of all the pills I had been prescribed over the years.
So, I would make the pills into different stop motion art and words and figures and told my story over voiceover through the very short film. When I posted it through Buzzfeed’s platform, it went completely viral. Hundreds of thousands of comments, millions of views, I was getting messages by the 1000s every day. People struggling with the same thing. Two people even got quotes from the video as tatoos on their bodies… just opening that door for conversation caused the floodgates to open.
NN: Which led to a second life as an activist?
KD: I always say I kind of became an accidental activist. Once I realized oh (crap) people really want more of this content, I needed to be a voice for people to have access to information. It’s so so funny to think of it as a passion, because for so many years it was the bane of my existence.
NN: And now, you are putting it in book form.
KD: I had been doing videos, more mental health content, public speaking, interviews….I realized it’s very hard to cover the entirety of it in one article or one video. I wanted to share the information in a way that was understandable and relatable because every book out there that I could find about mental health was so boring.
NN: It’s not a traditional mental health book written by a doctor. In fact, that’s what you think will appeal to those who might benefit from its contents?
KD:It was important to create a workbook, and not a traditional read-it-and-toss-it book. All the pages have exercises or games or different methods of managing mental health. I want people to carry it in their pocket like a little mental health Bible (laughs).
(L.-r.) Kristy, Mike, Megan & Kelsey Darragh
NN: There’re probably no greater thrill than seeing your book for the first time.
KD: The first thing I did when we confirmed the cover, I printed it out at the exact size and the dimensions and taped it on top of another book I have, and set it on my desk. I wanted to see how it looked amongst my other books. And, I studied the way Barnes & Noble marketed and laid out books in their stores. That’s why the book is bright neon yellow with giant bold letters that say ‘Don’t F*cking Panic.’ I want people to see this book.
NN: So, you scheduled a book about anxiety that is coming out in a year that has been plagued by coronavirus, lockdowns, job losses and the most nerve-wracking election season ever. Are you just lucky, or an evil marketing genius?
KD: Launching my first book in the middle of a pandemic and before an election season was not anything I imagined happening, but in a weird way something beautiful that has come of this pandemic is people are paying attention to their mental health now more than ever. They are foreced to come to terms with their struggles. I think the collective response has just been this book is so needed right now. the deep ernd into cold water. We have floaties and hot life guards here.
NN: Your mom (well-known local Realtor Kristy Darragh of Florida Executive Realty) and occasional video co-star must be thrilled.
KD: She is such a successful staple in New Tampa and I always saw her as a very strong, independent woman in a mentor position. To have something as incredible and crazy as a book coming out with my name on it, I know she is so proud for me to be breaking stigmas and talking about things people don’t talk about. Maybe this wasn’t the plan that they had for their daughter, to have their book debut with a giant ‘F bomb’ in the middle of it, but they have been nothing but supportive. My mom ordered like 10 books. Maybe she’s leaving it on the coffee table in the houses she’s selling. (laughs).
KRISTY DARRAGH
* Longtime New Tampa resident now living in Los Angeles.
* Can be seen on E!’s “Dating: No Filter.”
* First went viral on YouTube ten years ago with her video “Sh-t Girlfriends Say.” She began to attract more followers and started a web series on her channel, which has more than 116,000 subscribers. With an average viewership of 14+ million, Darragh tackles topics like sex, beauty, and mental health.
* Began making digital content for Buzzfeed like “Ladies’ Room” and “Adult Sh-t.”
* Created a top-tier show for Comcast’s “Watchable” called “Am I Doing This Right?”
* In 2019, was selected as a Sundance New Voice writer for her dark comedy series “Where We Are.”
* Is also a passionate member and supporter of the LGBTQ community as she says she identifies as queer and bisexual.
* Currently directing a documentary on Saraya Rees, a 14-year-old in Oregon battling mental illness, who was sentenced to 11 years in juvenile prison.
Emily Murphy & Guy Carmeli are proud to offer Pasta di Guy’s fried ravioli, hand-cut zucchini noodles with pesto, pasta alla aglio e olio, broccoli & bacon and large market salad.
For anyone who has ever had freshly made pasta, you know there’s literally nothing quite like it. Most Italian places in our area use the same hard, dry pasta that you buy in the grocery store and while there’s nothing “wrong” with it, if you want to taste the difference between fresh, homemade pasta and what most everyone else serves, you now have that opportunity on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in Wesley Chapel.
Pasta di Guy, which opened a few months ago in the space formerly occupied by the second location of OTB Café on BBD, just south of S.R. 54, has just what you’re looking for to satisfy that craving.
It is owned by Guy Carmeli, who received his formal training at the London location of the famed Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. Guy says he first learned about fresh pasta, however, while working as a sous chef at an excellent Italian restaurant located in his native Israel (outside of Tel Aviv). And, even though Cordon Bleu is most famous for French cuisine, Guy says “They actually teach every style of cooking there and they’re very strict. They tell you when you start there that you’re not a chef and probably won’t ever make it.”
Even so, Guy excelled — especially at creating sauces — and after working at a number of restaurants for several years in England, he moved to the Tampa Bay area less than two years ago and started the Pasta di Guy food truck, which soon developed an almost cult-like local following.
A few weeks before starting his food truck, Guy met his girlfriend Emily Murphy, who has been with him ever since and the two started looking for a location for a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
“The food truck did great,” he says, “but the kitchen, of course, was very small, so what we could offer was very limited. Emily and I knew that we could do more.”
So, when they found out the former OTB location was available, they acted quickly, signed a lease and started designing the fast-casual Italian restaurant.
“We literally re-designed everything, especially in the kitchen, from the floors to the equipment,” he says. “We ordered a lot of the equipment from Italy and had to wait a while for some of it.”
Pasta with bacon and broccoli
One of those pieces of new equipment was the amazing pasta machine, which made Guy happy, even though having it created a lot more work for him and Emily.
“We are here every morning, making the pasta for the day,” says Emily, who says that currently, the strozzapreti (which literally means “Priest chokers” in Italian, but they are a longer form of twisted cavatelli pasta and comes out naturally “al denté”) is the only pasta that is made in-house (the penne, although a delicious imported Italian brand, isn’t made at the restaurant).
“And the sauces, too,” Guy adds. “We have to get in early to make all of the sauces for the day, too.”
Among those homemade sauces are the Alfredo (which Guy says is his top-seller), the Bolognese (which carries an up-charge; more on that below), traditional marinara, vodka (Alfredo and marinara mixed together), creamy pesto, aglio e olio (garlic & oil) and butter sauce.
Guy says that after Alfredo, Bolognese is probably the #2 seller, but marinara, vodka and pesto are all close behind.
How To Order
Whether you choose to dine in, take out (with touch-free curbside pickup) or have your order delivered (also no-contact), Pasta di Guy offers a create-your-own pasta bowl. You choose your pasta (strozzapreti, for $9.99, penne, $7.99, or delicious, hand-cut, gluten-free zucchini noodles, $8.50), your sauce and your favorite add-ons (these are each an extra charge, but so worth it!), including grilled chicken, bacon, Italian sausage, broccoli, cauliflower and mushrooms.
Pasta with sausage
All of these pasta dishes are topped with parmesan cheese, fresh herbs and black pepper, unless you specify which ones you don’t want. The fresh basil is literally grown on the counter at the restaurant.
And, Don’t Forget…
Although Guy says he still plans to expand the menu (and perhaps open additional locations), Pasta di Guy also offers a great fried ravioli appetizer in marinara ($8.50), crunchy breaded-and-fried zucchini sticks ($6.50) and either two 6” bread sticks ($1.50) or a bread sticks bundle ($5.50), all served with a side of marinara dipping sauce.
There’s also delicious, made-in-house salads, including small (both $3.50) and large (both $7) Italian and Caesar salads (with homemade Italian and Caesar dressings), as well as a large market salad ($8), with arugula, fresh raspberries, feta cheese, candied pecans and red onions with a homemade raspberry vinaigrette dressing. You can add grilled chicken to any of the large salads for $2 more.
“We buy the freshest local ingredients and produce — including a lot of organic items — we can find,” Guy says. “I’ve had to refuse a lot of the items from the big local suppliers, but we think it’s worth it.”
And, save room for dessert because Guy offers two decadent options — cannolis filled with house-made cheesecake cream in crispy shells and an authentic raspberry panna cotta (Italian for “cooked cream”), which is sweetened cream thickened with gelatin and topped with a smooth raspberry glaze. Guy conducted an informal survey on Facebook and the pana cotta won out over tiramisu as the second dessert option (it was his favorite anyway).
And, while he adds that opening just before the pandemic hit has made building a following “a little more challenging,” he and Emily are confident that once you give Pasta di Guy a try, you’ll become another one of their growing roster of regular customers.
Pasta di Guy (4839 BBD) is open every day (except Mon., when it’s closed) for lunch & dinner, 12:30 p.m.-9 p.m. For info, visit PastadiGuy.com, or call (813) 388-6676. Mention this article and receive $5 off your purchase of $25 or more!
Congratulations go out to The Grove, the North Tampa Bay Chamber and Florida Penguin Productions for a hugely successful, socially distant 16th edition of the Wesley Chapel Fall Festival. Held Oct. 29-Nov. 1 in a new location at The Grove, on grass (instead of asphalt), with the under-renovation Grove Movie Theater visible to all attendees, this year’s Fall Festival also featured the usual food, rides and vendor booths (all on display in the photo gallery below).
A new wrinkle was that Florida Penguin Productions upgraded the entertainment and charged attendees to see top local bands like the The Black Honkeys (shown here, bottom right) and the Greg Billings Band. The weather was hot, but beautiful. A great job by all! — GN (with photos by Charmaine George, Florida Penguin Productions & GN)
